CPI(M) backs opposition unity, but calls for tactical alliances in states

The Congress win in three states in the recently held assembly elections has rekindled the attempts of forging a united opposition. In a show of strength, many of the senior opposition leaders participated in the swearing-in in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was also extended the invite, but could not attend because of party meetings.  

Yechury said the CPI(M) supported the unity of opposition parties but tactical alliances would be done in different states. There would not be a national-level umbrella alliance, he said. “As our history has shown, alternative governments have been formed only after the elections results when different parties came together,” Yechury said.

However, in a setback to the opposition unity move, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati did not attend the swearing-in.

Explaining the state-specific situations that the CPI(M) would undertake, Yechury said, in West Bengal, it will be “defeat Modi at Centre and the TMC in the state”, while in Tamil Nadu their stand will be “defeat Modi at Centre and the AIADMK in the state”.

“The CPI(M) central committee reiterated the electoral tactics adopted at its last meeting held in October for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The main tasks that it has set before the party were to defeat the BJP alliance, to increase the strength of the CPI(M) and the Left in the Lok Sabha and to ensure that an alternative secular government is formed at the Centre,” Yechury said, explaining the decisions taken at the party's two-day central committee meeting in Delhi. The central committee has asked the state units of the party to make preparations in consonance with this tactical line, he added.

Yechury said the the BJP's defeat in three states was a clear indication of the people’s discontent and anger at the policies followed by the Modi government at the Centre and the BJP governments in these states. Their policies have imposed unbearable burdens on the people, he said. According to him, the poll results have shattered the myth of BJP’s electoral invincibility.

“Earlier, people voted differently in state and central elections. But this time it's different. There is a large discontent among the people which will continue till 2019,” the CPI(M) leader said.

The CPI(M) has extended its full support to the two-day national strike on January 8 and 9, called by the central trade unions. It also extended its support to the “Save Campus, Save Education, Save Nation” march on February 19, being organised by a broad platform of students, teachers, university employees and other civil society organisations. The central committee also decided to organise protests focusing on the issue of growing unemployment and to intensify the struggles against agrarian distress.

The CPI(M) reiterated its demand to institute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the Rafale deal. 

The Left party also raised the issue of electoral bonds. “Electoral bonds have become new tax havens. The BJP’s audit and income tax report submitted to the Election Commission discloses a voluntary contribution of Rs 210 crore plus through electoral bonds for the year 2017-18. The total value of electoral bonds issued in the first tranche in March this year was Rs 222 crore. Thus, the BJP received 94.5 per cent of this entire tranche. The total money received by the BJP during 2017-18 was a whopping Rs 1,027 crores. It is clear that the BJP and the Modi government are facilitating through such crony capitalism corporate funding for its electoral benefit,” the party said in its statement.